Apparatus for conveying cut tobacco



Dec. 18, 1934. c w. MULLER 0 APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING CUT TOBACCO FiledFeb. 13, 1932 s Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig.1.

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c. w. MULLER APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING CUT TOBACCO Filed Feb. 15. 1952 3Sheets-Sheet 2 lNVE NTDR Jar] mile/m fill/12 rzkW.

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APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING CUT TOBACCO I Filed Feb. 15, 1952 sSheets-Sheetfi 32 INVENTU R 6 9'] Il zZze/m fl'zflgr' Patented Dec. 18,1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING cU'r TOBACCO Germany Application February 13,1932, Serial No. 592,795 In Germany February 16, 1931 7 Claims. (Cl.131-60) It is known that the cut tobacco is fed to the working-upmachines, more particularly the 'cigarettevmachines, such that acontainer filled with tobacco is emptied by hand into the tobaccospreader and the tobacco is uniformly distributed in the said spreaderwith the object of producing a fleece which is as uniform as possible.Many proposals have already been made to obtain a uniform distributionof the tobacco and hence also a uniform fleece, but heretofore it hasnot been possible to attain anything quite perfect, because the cuttobacco in the container,

despite the fact that it is loosened, in parts remains agglomeratedtogether more or less in the form of small lumps and these lumps are notloosened even in the spreader.

It is the object of the present invention to bring about an automaticand uniform feed of tobacco to the cigarette machine. To this end,workers spread out the tobacco by hand on belts uniformly to a certainthickness, any large or small knots present being loosened. The beltsare moved periodically and the tobacco is placed thereupon partly duringmovement and partly during the stoppage of the belts. When tobacco is tobe fed to the admission hopper of the pneumatic device for charging thecigarette machine, these belts are'used as conveyor belts such that thetobacco lying upon them, which has already been brought into a uniformcondition by the hand-spreading and is free from knots, is fed to thefeeding hopper for the charging plant.

Preferably, the belts are constructed in the form of containers, ofwhich they form the bottom. It is then possible to remove the tobaccogradua ly in vertical layers, so that satisfactory 'intermixing of thetobacco takes place. The gradual removal of the tobacco in verticallayers may be effected in a variety of ways. Preferably, the containersare made with fixed walls on three sides and with a conveyor belt as abottom, the tobacco leaving the open ends of the containers being fed tothe tobacco machines, either by a common conveyor device runningtransversely to the conveyor belts forming the bottom of the containers,or by electrically controlled means for regulating the descent, or thequantity, of the tobacco.

Two constructions of the invention are shown and of conducting thetobacco further by electrically-controlled conduits.

Fig. 2 is a plan thereof.

Fig. 3 shows a diagrammatic side elevation, in which the conveyor beltsare in the form of containers and the delivery of the tobacco iseffected directly on to a common conveyor belt.

Fig. 4 is a plan thereof. v

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic sideview of the form of machine of Figs. 3 and4 showing the tobacco being distributed into the different containers.

Figs. 6, '7 and 8 are similar views as Fig. 5, but showing otherpositions of the conveyor device.

The tobacco is first'cut in the usual manner in the cuttingpmachine andis then loosened. In the constructional example shown in Figs. 1 and 2,it is then brought into the containers 1 from the guide rollers,preferably'the front guide roller 6, carries a sprocket wheel 7,connected by a chain to a sprocket gear 8 on a shaft 9. The

gear 8 is loose on the shaft 9, but is rigidly connected to one partof aclutch 10. 'which'is shown open in the case of the belt 2 and Thisclutch,

closed in the case of the belt 3 is opened and closed, respectively, bya lever 11 and a spring 12. The lever 11 is actuated by a magnet 13provided with current by the leads l4. Preferably, the current isswitched on from a point on the cigarette machine. The common drivingshaft 9 is set in rotation by an electric motor 15. At the rear of eachof the belts 2, 3 and 4, there is provided a container 1 for receivingthe tobacco. At the front end of the belts there is provided a hopper 16which is adapted to be closed at its lower end by a slide 17. This slide17, which is merely indicated in the drawings and may be of any desiredconstruction, is controlled electrically by means of a solenoid, that isto say,

it isadapted to be opened and closed, and the current is suppliedthrough leads 18 which are fed from the samesource of current as theassociated leads 14, so that when current is sent through one of thepairs of leads 19 or 20, the belt 2 or 3 is simultaneously set in motionand the slide 17 is opened, or when the current is interrupted, theslide is closed and the belt 3 is stopped by disengagement of theclutch. Of course, the same appliesfor the belt 4 and its circuit, notshown in the drawings. Conduits 21, 23 and 24 IF A are connectedrespectively to the lower ends of the hoppers and conduct the tobacco tothe workingup machine, preferably the cigarette rod machine.

The worker thus distributes the tobacco taken from the containers 1uniformly upon the corresponding belts 2, 3 and 4. He spreads thetobacco on the belts uniformly and removes any knots by pulling themapart and makes the layer as uniform as possible and of the samethickness. The tobacco can then remain on this belt until it is requiredat the working-up machine. A belt will be associated with eachworking-up machine, that is to say, with each cigarette machine. It ispossible, however, to feed several cigarette machines witha single beltor even to employ several belts for feeding one cigarette machine. Inthe constructional example shown threebelts are provided, but of coursethe number may be smaller or larger according to the number of themachines to be fed. Preferably, a belt will be provided for eachcigarette machine and the length of the individual belts will preferablybe proportioned according to the number of cigarette machines there arealtogether, and hence according to the number of belts there arealtogether, such that when the first belt provided with tobacco has beenalmost entirely emptied, the last belt has just been completely chargedwith tobacco, so that all the belts can be attended by one person. a g

If suflicient tobacco has been fed to a cigarette machine, current issent from the cigarette machine through one of the leads 19 and 20 orthe lead, not shown, going to the belt 4 and the belt is stopped and atthe same time the corresponding slide 17 is closed. If, on the otherhand, a cigarette machine is to be fed with tobacco, the belt is set inmotion and the corresponding slide 17 is opened. The tobacco thendescends gradually through the hoppers 16 and through the associatedconduit 21 to the rod machine where it is worked up in the usual manner.When the distances are long, conveying is preferably effectedpneumatically. In order to effect a more uniform manufacture, a starwheel 22 and a brush 22 may be provided in known manner at the front endof each belt. Since the tobacco has already been uniformly distributedit will be fed uniformly to the rod machine and the spreader of the rodmachine is now capable of providing uniform distribution and hence aperfectly uniform fleece. While the tobacco is being taken from the belt2, it is placed by the worker on the other belts. By way of example, thebelt 3 is shown entirely charged with tobacco, while only a part of thebelt 4 has been charged with tobacco.

In the constructional example shown in Figs. 3 to 8, the distribution ofthe tobacco on to the belts is effected by means of a collectingcontainer 25 which is supplied with tobacco through a pipe line 26. Anair lock 2'7 through which the tobacco can be discharged is connected inknown manner to the tobacco container, while the air under suction orcompression employed for conveying the tobacco is drawn oif togetherwith the dust through the conduit 28. The tobacco discharged from theair-lock now arrives upon a conveyor belt 29. This conveyor belt, aswill be seen more particularly in Figs. 5 to 8, is made in the form ofan endless belt runningover two rollers. The means for drivingthe'ro-llers is not shown in the drawings, but it is such that the beltcan run as desired in one direction of rotation, as shown by arrows inFigs. 5 and G, or in the other direction, as shown by arrows in Figs. 7and 8. The conveyor belt 29, together with its driving means is mountedon a sliding carriage or the like, likewise not shown in the drawings,which is adapted to be moved in the longitudinal direction of theconveyor belt 29, so that the conveyor belt can occupy one of the fourpositions shown in Figs. 5 to 8 relatively to the cyclone collector 25or the tobacco collecting device. provided thereunder. In theconstructional example shown, there are provided below the conveyor belt29 four conveyor belts 35, 36, 37 and 33, each of which is arranged at aright angle to the direction of the conveyor belt 29. These conveyorbelts are surrounded by walls 80 on three sides, namely, on thelongitudinal sides and one of the end sides, so that containers open tothe front end are formed above these conveyor belts. The lateral wallsof the conveyor belts (chambers) are lined with sheet zinc. pleted, thesurface and the front end are covered, so that the tobacco to a certainextent lies in a closed, air-tight container. At the open front end,below the conveyor bolts 35, 36, 3'? and 38,

there is another conveyor belt 31 running par- I allel to the conveyorbelt 29 and leading to the distribution center 32 for the tobacco. Atthis distribution center a number of workers are employed who throw thetobacco arriving on the conveyor belt 31 into the hoppers 33, whence itproceeds by merely sliding or pneumatically through the pipe lines 34 tothe working-up places, that is to say to the cigarette machines.

Therefore, according to the position of the conveyor belt 29 andaccording to the direction in which it is running, the tobacco will beconveyed into one of the compartments formed by the conveyor belts 35 to38, that is one of the belts and its walls. During this conveying, thebelt 35, 36, 37 or 38 in question is running forward quite slowly in thedirection of the arrows, so that the space formed above this conveyor:belt is gradually filled with tobacco. This work is continued until thecontainer is filled with tobacco as far as the front. The conveyor belt29 is then positioned above another of the four containers, and a secondcontainer is filled and then thethird and fourth containers in the sameway. I The four corresponding positions of theconveyor belt 29 are shownin Figs. 5 to 8. .When the contain ers are full, the conveyor belt 35,36, 37 or 38 concerned is stopped. In these containers, which afterfilling are conveniently covered with a sheet preferably of leather orrubber or also with a cover of metal or wood to prevent the evaporationof the moisture in the tobacco, the tobacco now remains a certain lengthof time until complete and uniform soaking has taken place. The conveyorbelt of the container from which the tobacco is to be taken is then setslowly in motion again, the tobacco is thereby brought upon the conveyorbelt 31 and from thence is fed to the distribution place32.

Since the containers 35, 36, 37 and 38 have a comparatively largecapacity and since of course any larger or smaller number of containersmay be used instead of four, it is thus possible to al-- low work at thecutting machines to be continuous. The tobacco can then remain in thecontainers a suitable length of time, and is fed from them directly tothe cigarette machines either mechanically or pneumatically so thatfilling into boxes and the repeated transport of the boxes isunnecessary.

Of course, the invention is not limited to the After charging iscomparticular constructional form shown. For instance, instead of theconveyor belt 29 adapted to be moved to-and-fro, it is possible to use ahopper adapted to be changed over to the diiferent containers, throughwhich hopper the tobacco is fed alternately to the containers. Also, itis possible to employ other conveyor devices, such as conveyor worms, orthe like instead of the conveyor belts.

Preferably, the conveyor belts will be set up in a separate room whichis independent of the room in which are located the machines for workingup the tobacco, so that the worker placing the tobacco on the belts willnot be disturbed by the working of the cigarette machines, and inaddition it will be possible to maintain in this room a moisture andtemperature suitable for the seasoning of the tobacco on the belts.

The containers may also be provided with a cover so that they can beused as closed boxes.

I claim:

1. A device for handling cut tobacco, comprising a collecting container;a conveyor belt arranged below the container; a plurality of conveyorbelts arranged at approximately right angles to the first mentionedbelt; and a feed belt arranged at approximately right angles to thesecond-mentioned belts and adapted to convey the cut tobacco to acigarette rod machine, said first mentioned belt being movable to feedtobacco from the container to any desired secondmentioned belts.

2. A device for handling cut tobacco according to claim 1, in which thesecond-mentioned belts are open at one end and the remaining portionsare surrounded with walls.

3. A device for conveying and seasoning cut tobacco from a looseningmachine to a cigarettemaking machine, comprising a plurality ofcontainers adapted to receive the cut tobacco and each of which iscomposed of a movable belt forming the bottom thereof and side walls onthe two sides and on one end of the belt; means for receiving the cuttobacco and for distributing the tobacco on the belts; and a feed beltarranged under the ends of the movable belts at the ends opposite thewalled ends to convey the cut tobacco to the cigarette machine.

4. A device according, to claim 3 in which the means comprises aconveyor belt arranged to travel in directions at approximately rightangles to the movable belts.

5. A device according to claim 3, in whichthe means comprises a conveyorbelt arranged to travel in directions at approximately right angles tothe movable belts and in which the feed belt is arranged atapproximately right angles to the '7. A device according to claim 3, inwhich a lid is provided for each container to permit the cut tobacco tobe seasoned while on the belt in the container.

CARL WILHELM MiiLLER.

